Speaking as someone who has taught on the university level, Michael, I would say that the problem is not so much with bureaucracy, as with the members of the departments themselves. Decisions on tenure and promotion, after all, are made by one's peers in the department, rather than by the university administration.
Still, American universities are indeed more bureaucratic than European ones are -- or used to be. In the old European system, the administrators were hired by the professors, and were definitely inferior to the latter in status. The American way, however, is to evaluate status, and thus "worth," in terms of the number of subordinates one has. This flaw -- and in my mind it is a flaw -- is not limited to the university system.
As for your statement that "Something new dot.com will probably be the leader in e-commerce education, instead of Princeton, Yale or Harvard," I have no problem with that. Why should Princeton, Yale, or Harvard be the leaders in this area? Perhaps the carpenter should stick to his last.
And where's the fun in agreeing on everything? :-)
Joan |
